In order to extract sugar from sugar beets, it is necessary to slice them into relatively small strips called cossettes. Such a machine has so-called Koenigsfeld knives with roof-shaped or angularly corrugated cutting edges that comminute the beets. Such beet knives are used in many forms and frequently become dull as a result of their intended use, thus necessitating resharpening. The knife consists of a knife body on which blades are mounted in the manner of a gabled or pointed roof that are arranged next to each other in large numbers. To sharpen them, the beet knives must each be reground on each cutting edge of the gabled roof-shaped blades. This involves substantial work, and this task must be performed with great care, since, on the one hand, the positioning of the cutting edge in the sharpening elements must be done carefully and, on the other hand, the cut depth of the miller must be maintained with precision in order not to cut the knife too much and to impart a sharp chamfered edge to the blade.
A conventional sharpening apparatus of this type can be operated only with great manual effort, and there are numerous sources of errors during sharpening as a result of the manual operation.